Remade phonograph record and process of pressing same



March 25 1924. 1,488,253

E. HOWBRIGG REMADE PHONOGRAPH RECORD AND PROCESS OF PRESSING SAME Filed March 20, 1922 IN VE N TOR BY z A TTORNE Y Patented Mar. 25, -1924.

UNITED STATES HOWBRIGG, OF BEIILEVILLE, NEW JERSEY.

nmnma rnonoema nnconn AND raocnss or ranssme Applioation filed March 20, 1922. Serial No. 545,026.

1 ula'rly concerned with the making over or renewal of phonographrecords.

There are numerous sources of phongraph records which are useless exce t for the record material they contain, an are available for reclamation in accordance with the present invention. For example, a large percentage of phonograph records are rejected upon inspection after manufacture for various reasons and never leave the factory where they are made on account of defects which prevent them from bein merchantable. n the manufacture o phonograph records test records are frequently made, which serve only a temporary purpose, and there are, of course, large numbers of old records which have either been used or have been carried on dealers shelves and which are out of date and are of value only for the material they contain.

The material of such rejected and returned records is sometimes partially utilized by breaking up the records, and reducing the material to a finel divided state, as by grinding, to be adds to new stock and made into records. In such case the 40 part of the record containing the" label is either punched out and sent to waste, or else the paper is removed from the broken down record material by suitable means, as, for example, in some cases astatic electrical process is resorted to for removin the ground up particles of the paperabels. As will be readily apparent, such reclamation processes are expensive and troublesome, and the economical utilization of rejected or returned records presents a diflicult problem to record manufactures.

p The object of the present invention is the solution of such pro lem in an effective and inexpensive marmer, enabling the etficient production of new records from old ones at 66 very 'low cost and at a minimum of expenditure of time and trouble and with practically no waste.

According to the present invention thereolamation of the old or discarded record 0' is carriedout without the removal of the label or labels and in such fashion that there is no necessity for their removal, and in fact the old labels are of advantage in the remade record in that they are imbedded 6 therein and serve to give the remade record added strength and ngidity.

According to the present invention the record, after being softened by heating as on thecustomary steam table, is folded in 7 such way as to make a compact body for pressing, andalso to imbed one or the other or both of the aper labels in the body of the material. hen the record is pressed. such label or labels being imbedded in the 7 interior of the record serve to impart strength and rigidity thereto.

According to one mode of carr ing out the invention the record is folde toward .the center on one face so 'as to imbed but 8 one of the labels in the record material. In such case therecord label on the opposite side may either be covered up by provision of additionalrecord material for that purpose, or may be simply left in lace and 5 covered with a new label for proper y indentifying the remade record.

The folding back of the outer parts of the record may be facilitated by the provision of a plurality of preferably radial 9 outs, which may extend from the nei hborhood of the record label to the preiphery of the record. The record parts between these cuts may then be folded back separately, thus facilitating the folding operation, 96 and making it possible to secure a folded product of substantially regular form, but it will be understood that the rovision of the cuts in the record, while pre erable may be dispensed with, if desired. In addition 100 to the folding just described, a second folding or partial folding is preferably resorted to in order to bring the mass ofrecord material into most desirable form for pressing.

In folding'back the material of the record toward the center, the central opening made in the record for receiving the turntable pin is preferably not covered by the folded part. This hole is used for centering the folded mass upon the press by inserting the folded up mass in the press with the hole in the center coming over the pin in the press, so that proper centering is obtained, insuring even distribution of the record material in pressing the record.

In the pressing operation, the back of the record, that is the face opposite that containing the folded in parts, may have additional record material spread thereon, if desirable, in order to completely fill the press and matrices, or if desired, the record may be made somewhat thinner than the first time, and in this way there will be sufficient material to completely fill the space and to allow the necessary slight excess of material to escape about the edges in press- Tn the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, Fig. 1 IS a plan View of a record to be remade and shown provided with four cuts therein preparatory to folding. Fig.2 is a plan View of the record shown in Fig. 1, with the portions between the radial cuts folded back to near the center of the record. Fig. 3 is a plan View showing a second folding of the record material toward the center, and Fig. 4: is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a re made record, embodying one form of the present invention.

The record to be remade is indicated by the reference numeral 10, and the slots or radial cuts formed therein, preferably after being softened by heating, are.indicated by 11, 11. These cuts preferably extend from adjacent to the record label- 12 out to the periphery of the record, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The reference characters 13, 13 in Fig. 2 are used to designate folded over portions of the record formed by folding over the parts 14, 14 between the cuts .11, 11 at about the middle thereof, so as to bring the peripheral part of the record close to the hole 15 in the center, but not to close the hole 15. The label 12 is covered by the folded over parts 14:, 1 1, and is thereby brought between different thicknesses of record material, so as to become imbe'dded in the record when the pressing operation is carried out.

While the record might be pressed when given a single folding as shown in Fig. 2, it is desirable to make a somewhat more compact mass, and this may be done by bringing the cornerparts 16, 16 of the folded over record as shown in Fig. 2, inwardly toward the center as indicated at 16, 16, Fig. 3, thus making a somewhat thicker and more compact body of material for pressing.

Parts of the material may be folded back oneach of the o posite sides of the record, so as to embed both labels therein, if desired, but preferably I do all the folding back on one side of the record, so as to embed a single label, and apply a small quantity of plastic material, such as shellac composition, overthe label on the opposite face. This may be done by sprinkling record material on such face or by spreading such material on the steam table and bringing the back of the mass into contact therewith to pickupsome additional material, or in any other desired way, and all that is necessary is to provide sufficient extra material to be surefthat the press will be filled out and also to provide an adhesive in connection with the exposed record label to enable a new label to be secured thereon.

In pressing the remade record to make a double faced record, a new label 17 is placed over the in in the press and the compact mass 18, as shown in Fig. 3, is then placed in the press with the side shown upwards in Fig. 3 uppermost, and with the centering pin of the press entering the hole 15 in the record material. The upper label 19 is put in place over the centering pin of the press in the usual way and the pressing operation is proceeded with in any suitable manner, the present invention being applicable to presses of various types. With the mass to be pressed formed as described a free rolling motion of the material from the center to the periphery takes place in preising and, the material is evenly distribute Y The cross-sectional form of the completed remade record 10 is-shown in Fig. 4. The original labels 12 and 20 are embedded in the record material and the new labels 17 and 19 are exposed on the top and bottom surfaces of the record respectively.

It will be seen that in remaking phonograph records in accordance with the process described, numerous features of advantage are secured. The expense of breaking up and grinding up the old records and working them on rolls and otherwise bringing the material into condition for making records is dispensed with. The trouble and expense of removing the paper record labels is eliminatedand the old labels actually serve to advantage in givin added strength and rigidity to the rema e record. The record material is provided with a central opening so that whenplaced in the press there is only a minimum waste of material, the. record material being uniformly and regularly distributed throughout all parts of the matrices in the pressing operation because properly centered in the press. The originallabels are confined to the center of the record and are kept away from that part of the record containing the sound grooves. In the single-faced phonograph records, or records with sound grooves on only one side of the record, and a single label, such label is entirely embedded in the remade record by the folding operation above described.

It' is to be understood that my invention is not to be limited by the showing made herein for the purpose of illustration, but is of the scope defined by my claims.

I claim:

1. In the process of remaking phonograph records, the step of folding the record ma terial inwardly from the periphery thereof, and ressing.

2. n the process of remaking phonograph records, the steps of heating the record to soften same, folding the record material inwardly from the periphery thereof, and pressing.

3. In the process of remaking phonograph records, the steps of softening same by application of heat, making cuts therein, folding the record material inwardly from the periphery, and pressing.

4. In the process of remaking phonogra h records, the steps of softening the record y application of heat, making a plurality of substantially radial cuts therein, folding the record material inwardly from the pe riphery so as to bring the folded record material over the record label, and pressm 5. In the process of remaking phonograph records, the steps of applying heat to soften same, folding-inwardl the record material from the peripheryo' the record to cover the label, but leaving the central opening in the record open, and pressing.

6. In the process of remakin phonograph records, the steps of folding tie record inatcrial over a label of the record, so as to embed same in the record, and pressing.

7. In the process of remaking phonograph records, the steps of softening same by application of heat, making substantially radial cuts therein, folding the record material inwardly from its periphery so as to cover the label, refolding the folded material toward the center, and pressing with the material when centered in the press by means of the hole in the center of the folded up body of material.

8. In the process of remaking phonograph records, the steps of softening of the record the record, and pressing.

10. In the process of remaking phonograph records having paper labels on their opposite faces, the steps which comprise folding the material of the record inwardly so as to cover one record label, applyin cementitious material to the other recor label, applying new record labels above and below the mass or body of material, and pressing.

11. The process of remaking phonograph records, which comprises heating the record to soften it, folding the record material inwardly from the periphery thereof, applying refacing material, as shellac or the like, and pressing in contact with a record matrix.

12. As a new article of manufacture, a remade phonograph record having an original record label embedded therein.

13. As a new article of manufacture, a remade phonograph record having an original record label embedded therein at about the center thereof.

14:. As anew article of manufacture, a remade phonograph record having a record label embedded in the material thereof about the center thereof, and having a new record label applied upon the surface of the material.

15. As a new article of manufacture, a remade phonograph record having one of its original labels embedded in the material, and having the remaining label covered with fresh record material and with a new label.

16. As a new article of manufacture, a remade phonograph record having its original labels embedded therein, and having record labels on the surfaces'thereof covering the orginal record labels.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name hereto.

EDWIN HOWBRIGG. 

